Changing the name of virtual networks under Virtual PC

Under Virtual Server we provide a convenient UI to allow the user to change the name of their virtual networks. Under Virtual PC – however – we just use the name of the physical network card for the name of the virtual network. Normally this is okay – however it can be problematic if your physical network card has an overly long and convoluted name, or if you have two identical physical network cards.

If you want to change the virtual network name to something more user friendly you should do the following:

Exit Virtual PC

Edit “%APPDATA%MicrosoftVirtual PCOptions.xml”

(Please note – it is advisable that you backup this file first – just in case something goes wrong)

Find the <virtual_network> entry for the virtual network you want to rename (note – there are also <virtual_gateway> entries – you should leave these alone!)

Change the <name type=”string”>…</name> element from the name of your physical network card to the name that you want to use

Save the file and exit

Launch Virtual PC

And now your virtual networks will have the name that you want them to have.

Yes I am serious – and not we did not go to the trouble of removing this option from the GUI of Virtual PC. Virtual PC was released before Virtual Server and the UI for this option was never implimented under Virtual PC.

Cheers,

Ben

12 years ago

Norman Diamond

> we did not go to the trouble of removing

> this option from the GUI

Even if you had, it still wouldn’t be anything unusual. Consider all the users of Windows XP Home who, in order to make a moderate attempt at improving security, have to learn to use CACLS instead of having a GUI. So if there’s any issue with your product where you shouldn’t have had to worry about defending it, surely this is one.